AHPA endorses Ellen MacArthur Foundation statement on extended producer responsibility

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), voice of the herbal and natural products industry, has endorsed an Ellen MacArthur Foundation policy statement calling for the implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs.

Under EPR programs, companies pay for part of the costs of managing post-consumer waste generated by their product packaging. Payments are generally provided to a third party or government-operated “stewardship organization” that designs, implements and manages a collective, comprehensive packaging recycling program for the covered area. Amounts paid into the program are generally tied to the amount of waste a company produces and the size of the company. EPR bills have entered into law in Maine and Oregon, and similar measures are in development in several other state legislatures. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has produced the EPR statement as part of its efforts to develop a “circular economy” in which packaging material and other sources of waste are continuously recycled into productive use.

“This endorsement reflects AHPA’s longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability, from our good stewardship harvesting brochures to our ongoing engagement with U.S. and international environmental issues”, said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “The herbal and natural products industry knows the benefits of participation in a system that will limit packaging waste in the ecosystem we all share.”

Organizations that endorse the Ellen MacArthur Foundation statement commit to constructive engagement with governments and other stakeholders in advocating for the establishment of well-designed EPR laws and programs. The full statement and an accompanying position paper describing the advantages of EPR programs are available here.